He just barely missed landing right on top of her.
Pity.
“Are you trying to kill us both?”
Hiccup. “Nope.”
He rose to his knees and looked at her with amusement in his lovely eyes. Had she ever noticed how gorgeous his eyes were? Probably not, because she’d been too busy being furious with him most of the time.
“You have lovely eyes.”
He rolled them. “Thank you. Now, do you want to sleep on the floor, or would you prefer the big comfy bed?”
“Bed.” Hiccup. Giggle. “Please.”
Standing, he offered only one hand this time and helped her to her feet, grabbing her with the other hand when she swayed.
“I gotta pee.”
“Awesome. Let’s go.” He perp-walked her to the bathroom. “If I let you go in there by yourself, you’re not going to fall and crack your head open on the sink or anything, are you?”
Hiccup. “Try not to.”
“Do that, since there’s no way to get to a hospital in this snow.” He released her at the door and waited until she’d crossed the bigger-than-expected bathroom to get to the toilet. “Closing the door now. Do not fall.”
She smiled and waved her fingers at him. “K.”
Fortunately, she had enough sense to heed his concern about not being able to get to the hospital if she hurt herself and managed to take care of business without falling. Out of curiosity, she looked inside the closet and was shocked to find a wide variety of sex toys, lube and condoms along with combs, toothpaste and toothbrushes. The Pig’s Belly was full of surprises.
When she opened the bathroom door, he stood with his arms propped above his head on the doorframe. He’d removed his sweater, leaving him only in a thermal Henley that displayed his considerable muscles.
Yum.
“All set?”
The sight of him waiting there for her did something to her insides, making her feel even more light-headed than she already was.
He offered his arm and escorted her to the king-size bed. When she sat on the edge, he stood by to grab her if she slid off again. “Sit back. I’ll help you get your boots off.”
Brianna leaned back on her elbows so she could watch him as he untied and removed first one boot and then the other. A wave of heat came over her as she watched him concentrate on the task, the muscles in his arms and shoulders flexing under the Henley. Had she ever noticed before how seriously ripped he was? No, not really. He wore tons of clothes to stay warm at work, so how would she know?
“I’ll crash on the sofa.”
“The bed is huge. You can sleep on the other side.” Hiccup. “I’ll try to resist mauling you in your sleep.”
“You’re funny when you’re drunk.” He sat in a chair to remove his boots. “I never would’ve suspected that.”
“Why, because I’m such a professional on the job?”
After a long pause, he said, “Something like that.”
“I think it’s safe to say a lot of things about this evening have been surprising.”
Noah put the safety lock on the door before he stretched out on the far side of the big bed. “Lots of surprises all around. Like this room, for example. It’s way nicer than I would’ve expected from the Pig’s Belly.”
“There’s stuff in the closet,” Brianna said in a scandalized whisper.
“What kind of stuff?”
“Toys.”
“Like Legos?”
She snorted with laughter that only intensified her hiccups. “No!”
“Oh, those kinds of toys. This I need to see.” He got up and went into the bathroom, closing the door to use the facilities before opening it again so she could hear his comments about the items in the closet. “Holy cow. They aren’t messing around.”
“Don’t you mean holy pig?”
“I guess I do,” he said on a low chuckle.
“I had no idea I was missing out by being a vegetarian. They don’t have this stuff at the vegetarian restaurants.”
Noah came back to the bed and lay down again. “I’m trying to picture my buttoned-down cousin Hunter finding that stuff in the closet. That must’ve been funny.”
Brianna was suddenly so sleepy, she could barely keep her eyes open, but she didn’t want this night to end. Once they returned to Butler, would the magical bubble surrounding them burst? Would they go back to normal, fighting all the time? She was tired of fighting with him over stupid shit that didn’t matter. “I don’t want to fight with you anymore.”
“I don’t want that either.” He looked over at her. “I really am sorry if I made you feel unwelcome in Butler. I wasn’t raised like that.”
Smiling, she said, “How were you raised?”
“To be nice to the flatlanders who come up to our mountains to visit.”
“Is that what I am? A flatlander?”
“If you’re not a native Vermonter, then yes, that’s what you are.”
Brianna yawned and then hiccupped again.
“Try holding your breath.”
She took a deep breath and held it.
“Push out from your diaphragm.” He gestured to his abdomen to show her what he meant. “Don’t let it go until you can’t hold it any longer.”
Brianna held her breath until she had stars in her eyes and then released it slowly. “I think you cured me.”
“Hope so.”
An extended period of silence ended with another loud hiccup that made them laugh.
“Try holding your breath again.”
Brianna repeated the ritual several more times before it seemed that she’d beaten the hiccups. “I’m not cut out for this drinking stuff.”
“Did you have a good time?”
“I had the best time that I’ve had in ages.”
“Then it was worth the hiccups.”
Brianna looked over at him. “Did you have fun, too?”
“I did,” he said, “and I never have fun.”
She turned on her side to face him, hands under her face. “That’s sad. You’re too young to have given up on fun.”
“It seemed easier that way.”
“To me, it sounds lonely.”
“Maybe a little, but nothing I can’t handle. I’ve got a huge family all around me. I can be with people any time I want to be.”
“How often do you hang out with them?”
“Not very.”
“Noah… Why would you let two people who aren’t worth it do that to you?”
“Do what?”
“Turn you into a recluse?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to answer questions about what happened to my marriage, so I fell into the habit of avoiding everyone.”
“Did you ever consider just telling everyone so you could move past it?”
“Nope, because that’d require me to talk about it, and that’s the last thing I want to do.”
“You talked about it with me.”
“That’s different.”
“How so?”
“I don’t know you that well. You didn’t know my ex or us together, and you’ve been through something similar. All of that made it easier for me to talk to you about it.”